“How You Bully a Girl”: Sexual Drama and the Negotiation of Gendered Sexuality in High School
Abstract
Over the past decade, sexual rumor spreading, slut-shaming, and homophobic labeling have become central examples of bullying among young women. This article examines the role these practices— what adults increasingly call “bullying” and what girls often call “drama”— play in girls’ gendering processes. Through interviews with 54 class and racially diverse late adolescent girls, I explore the content and functions of “sexual drama.” All participants had experiences with this kind of conflict, and nearly a third had been the subject of other girls’ rumors about their own sexual actions and/or orientations. Their accounts indicate that sexual drama offers girls a socially acceptable site for making claims to, and sense of, gendered sexuality in adolescence. While they reproduce inequality through these practices, sexual drama is also a resource for girls—one that is made useful through the institutional constraints of their high schools, which reinforce traditional gender norms and limit sexuality information.
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Miller (2016) finds that girls' bullying most commonly took the form of 'sexual drama,' with 'lesbian/bisexual' rumors circulating with almost the same frequency as 'slut' rumors.
“Miller (2016), for example, finds that girls' bullying most commonly took the form of 'sexual drama,' with 'lesbian/bisexual' rumors circulating with almost the same frequency as 'slut' rumors.”
From Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence (2023) · cites this paper as Miller 2016
Several studies identify sexual behavior as a central domain of contention and moralized boundary-making in conflict among adolescent girls.
“In analyzing conflict among adolescent girls, several studies identify sexual behavior as a central domain of contention and moralized boundary-making (e.g., Armstrong et al. 2014; Miller 2016; Mishna et al. 2020).”
From Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence (2023) · cites this paper as Miller 2016
In social systems where girls' claims to proper femininity rest on chaste, passive enactments of heterosexuality, LGBQ girls commit a double violation: not just sexually desiring women, but asserting agentive sexual desire at all.
“In social systems where girls' claims to 'proper' femininity rest on chaste, passive enactments of heterosexuality, LGBQ girls commit a double violation: not just sexually desiring women , but asserting agentive sexual desire at all (Miller 2016).”
From Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence (2023) · cites this paper as Miller 2016
The sexual double standard means that girls' sexuality still faces far harsher scrutiny.
“The sexual double standard, however, means that girls' sexuality still faces far harsher scrutiny.”
From Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence (2023) · cites this paper as Miller 2016
Cites
Bay-Cheng, L. Y. (2003) · Sex Education · doi:10.1080/1468181032000052162 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Notes on a Sociology of Bullying: Young Men's Homophobia as Gender Socialization
Pascoe, C. J. (2013) · QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking · doi:10.14321/qed.0087 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
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Sorted by citations
Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement
Marwick, A. E. (2021) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/20563051211021378 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Sexist Slurs: Reinforcing Feminine Stereotypes Online
Felmlee, D., Inara Rodis, P., & Zhang, A. (2020) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-019-01095-z · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Trading nudes like hockey cards: Exploring the diversity of 'Revenge Porn' cases responded to in law
Dodge, A. (2021) · Social & Legal Studies · doi:10.1177/0964663920935155 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence
Mittleman, J. (2023) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/08912432221138091 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Miller, S. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
- Corresponding author
- Miller, Sarah A.
- ORCID
- Miller, Sarah A.
- Venue
- Gender & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-09-07
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 721-744
- ISSN
- 0891-2432 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3977
- OpenAlex
- W2511206779
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 15.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Gender & Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Sexuality, and Education
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Keywords
- bullying, slut-shaming, adolescent girls, gender norms, high schools, sexual orientation, gender inequality
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